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HD Hyundai Heavy to help Bill Gates' TerraPower commercialize its reactors

Published: 12 Mar. 2025, 15:57

LEE JAE-LIM
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Clockwise from left, Bill Gates, founder and chairman of TerraPower; Chung Ki-sun, executive vice chairman of HD Hyundai; Won Kwang-shik, head of the marine energy business division at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries; and Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, take a commemorative photo after a signing ceremony marking the two companies' partnership to commercialize Natrium reactors. [HD HYUNDAI]

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and U.S. small modular reactor developer TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, agreed to commercialize liquid sodium nuclear reactors internationally, a win for the Korean manufacturer as the global energy race intensifies.

HD Hyundai will supply equipment for the manufacturing of TerraPower's Natrium reactor, laying the groundwork for full-scale commercialization. The Natrium is TerraPower's fourth-generation sodium-cooled fast reactor that generates 40 percent less nuclear waste than conventional reactors, which instead use water to slow down neutrons produced in fission.

HD Hyundai Executive Vice Chairman Chung Ki-sun and Gates marked the strategic partnership at a signing ceremony.

“We expect that HD Hyundai's extensive experience and advanced technological capabilities in manufacturing will help build the foundation for commercialization of Natrium reactors,” said Won Kwang-shik, head of the marine energy business division at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, in a statement. “We will accelerate the commercialization of next-generation nuclear energy solutions and create new growth opportunities.”

In December 2024, HD Hyundai signed a supply contract with TerraPower to build a cylindrical reactor vessel for installation in the first Natrium reactor, which is under construction in Wyoming.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]